Test Of Faith

A few days ago, I visited with a parishioner who had a very complicated surgery. It was a heart transplant. It takes my breath away just to hear the extent of the surgery and what went into it. Human ingenuity has come a long way. Medicine has come a long way. Technology has come a long way. And many, many Americans and people around the world are benefitting from these scientific leaps because people of goodwill believed that if we are to make progress, to live long and healthy lives, we have to invest in research.

I have never heard of anyone of any political, religious, sexual, or ethnic identity benefitting from scientific research over and above another person. All I have heard is the metrics that independent professionals use in determining whether one person should benefit from a transplant. 

And that is exactly what happened in the case of this parishioner, and the story about how it all happened is amazingly miraculous. To tell you the truth, it was a miracle to see him alive, and throughout my visit with him, he never for one moment forgot to remind me that he was lucky to be alive.

"Lucky?" I said to myself. "How lucky can one be?" Luck is a merger of faith, effort, and hope. And in situations where you know that your life is on the line, no amount of faith, effort, and hope can be enough.

Hearing the parishioner describe in detail, often with tears and amid shortness of breath, how in the days leading up to the miracle of receiving a heart, he had objected to another procedure which would have been detrimental to him in the long run. Hearing how he responded to a physician with the words, “From your mouth to God’s ears” reaffirmed, for me, the step that he took to surrender the entire process to God.

This parishioner usually likes to be in control, he would say, but because this was a moment that his faith was being tested, there was no way he could be in control. Fact is, you cannot be in control when your faith is being tested. Instead, he had to totally and voluntarily surrender everything to God. He got to the point where he had to constantly remind himself, that "All is in God’s hands." The interesting question is, if not in God’s hands, in whose hands can it be? But before you can commit all things into God’s hands, you must first understand who God is, believe in what God can do, and have faith in the one God who turns all our impossibilities to possibilities - the God who makes us feel lucky!

And then something - a miracle - happened: the doctor received word of a compatible heart donation. The news utterly surprised the physician - he who was pushing him to accept an alternative procedure - and so he came rushing to him with the news. Sometimes, the impossible happens, not because we are lucky but because providence accepts our offering of surrender. And just like Jesus would often say to those who came to him in faith,

"Your faith has made you well."

Although donated hearts may typically carry a disease or may not sufficiently match with a particular patient, his match was a perfect one. And that is an important part of the story that fills me with great joy and gratitude.

Here is another part of the story - a patient who was on the same floor and had gotten to know our parishioner, liked to take a walk at the rooftop, where the helipad is located. On that Sunday, as he walked, he saw a helicopter descend and land on the helipad. Without any knowledge whatsoever about what was being delivered by helicopter, he simply said to himself, ‘This is a heart for ---’ Not only did he say that to himself, but he also took a picture of the helicopter, with hopes that he could then share the picture with our parishioner.

He took the photo and made his way to the room of the parishioner to show him. But when he got there, he saw another miracle: our parishioner was being wheeled into surgery.

The picture of the helicopter and the story was enough to generate raw emotions from the two patients, loved ones, and hospital staff who witnessed this - a profound moment of grace from one patient to another.

I have always believed that there’s a part of the human connection that stands unbreakable. When all is said and done, there’s a part of us which believes itself to be a human being and therefore sees itself in another human being and then yearns to identify with that other. This feeling of connectedness happens despite how we feel about other people. This is because it really isn’t about others, it is about us, and the extent to which we want to tap into our common humanity.

This all seems like a perfect coincidence. But I remember the words of former Archbishop of Canterbury, William Temple, who confronted the idea of answered prayer as mere coincidence. He said, “When I pray, coincidences happen, and when I don’t, they don’t.” His point was, if coincidences happen because I pray, then I will continue to pray so more coincidences may happen. If I don’t pray, coincidences do not happen, but I will pray so coincidences may happen.

As we reflected on all that had happened, our fellow parishioner shared with me what he had written on his phone about the test of faith on November 30, 2014 at 9:19 a.m. - almost 11 years ago. This is what he wrote:

Elements of Faith:

• Trials test faith and involve risk

• Risk

• Unseen - is involved

• Submission - action tied to faith

• Trustworthy

How to Grow Faith:

• Life's heavy weight - go through trials with consistency

• Ask for help from God and others

• Balance - strengthen Love and Hope

• Source of faith - focus on the source, God

‘My heart is full,’ I said to him. This was because I could trace the providential hand of God through the entire story. And that reminded me of a prayer by Saint Pio of Pietrelcina: My past, O Lord, to your mercy; my present, to your love; my future to your providence.

When our faith is being tested, may we never forget the God into whose providence we commit both the present and the future.

Manny+